We are 92 days from the midterms. Ballots drop in 47 days.

For the past four weeks, we’ve been telling the story about the assault on women in America – not as a collection of outrageous headlines, but as a coordinated, documented, multi-front strategy that is moving faster than most people realize and landing harder than most people know. The mainstream media is mostly ignoring it, as are our elected officials.

This newsletter is part of that series. And we want to start with the thing that gets said most often and understood least clearly:

This was never just about abortion or reproductive rights.

Abortion is the most visible and emotionally charged point of a much larger agenda – and that’s why it absorbs all the attention. While the debate rages about reproductive rights, the infrastructure that makes women's lives independently sustainable is being quietly dismantled behind the scenes.

This debate has been active longer than many realize. In 1971, the Southern Baptist Convention first supported legalizing abortion. White evangelicals were largely indifferent to the issue through most of the 1970s. Abortion became a Republican political weapon in 1978 – not out of moral conviction, but because political operatives needed a wedge issue to drive evangelical turnout after their real motivating cause – protecting segregated Christian schools – proved too toxic to campaign on. Abortion has been a wedge issue ever since.

Yes, the fight over reproductive rights is real, and the consequences are measurable. Women in states with abortion bans are nearly twice as likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth. The numbers only get worse for women of color. Black women in ban states die at a rate more than three times that of white women.

Maternal Mortality Rates:

But that’s only part of the ugly picture. The coordinated assault on women is actually much larger, more insidious, and more existential.

While the abortion debate rages, here’s what’s happening in the margins:

DOGE eliminated at least $3 billion in grants specifically targeting women’s health and economic security. Title X – which provides contraception and healthcare to more than 800,000 women who have no other option – is being gutted. Medicaid, which covers nearly half of all births in this country, faces a $990 billion cut. Domestic violence shelter funding has been eliminated in budget cuts nobody read aloud. Not to mention eliminating USAID entirely, leading to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

That’s a small portion of the cuts that have driven a stake into the hearts of women and children, not just in America but around the world.

What we are witnessing is nothing less than a coordinated strategy to eliminate every structural condition that makes women's independence economically viable. Food assistance. Childcare subsidies. Healthcare access. Domestic violence protections. The programs that give women the ability to escape – bad relationships, bad jobs, just harmful situations of every kind – are being systematically removed.

Our very existence is under assault. And make no mistake, they are gunning for our vote.

But here’s what we know about ourselves.

We are the democratic majority. There are 8.7 million more women registered to vote in the United States than men. We have voted at higher rates than men in every presidential election since 1980. Black women in particular have been the most reliable foundation of the Democratic coalition for decades – organizing relentlessly in states the party had written off and showing up en masse everywhere.

THAT’S WHY they want to take away our right to vote. We won’t let them.

We are not a special interest group. Don’t let them distract you as single issue voters. We are the ones who will save ourselves. 

92 days. 47 days until your ballot drops in your inbox.

We have earned the right to be outraged, and frankly, we’re still not mad enough. Feel your outrage – I certainly do. Use it to organize. Use it to show up. Use it to bring every woman in your network into this fight before November 3rd.

We have power, and we are powerful.

Vote

Join the Team

In solidarity, 

Sally DeSipio
Chair, Global Women’s Caucus

Nolite te bastardes carborundorum

They are scared of us. It’s so obvious, they aren’t even trying to hide it. If you’re still with me, I am preaching to the choir. So this election, our ask is to get your entire posse to request their ballot - make sure you do it via Vote From Abroad, and choose the option Email, so you make sure to receive the ballot in your inbox on September 19th. 

With the postal system so sluggish (possibly intentionally), choosing email means at least one leg of the postal journey will be eliminated. One less opportunity to miss your chance to make your voice heard. We strongly encourage you to use Vote From Abroad and not your local elections office (LEO). That said, do check with your LEO to confirm that they received your ballot request and that you have not been purged from the voter rolls. Remember: you must request your ballot every year as a voter who lives abroad.

We can guarantee you one thing: joining our team of amazing women is a great way to channel your anger, your frustration and your anxiety. We have so many creative ideas to amplify our core message: voting is the most powerful tool we have. Our team is cross-generational and spread across multiple continents. We are only bound by our energy and our ideas. Volunteer today!

Here are our most pressing needs:

• • Content Creators: We are storytellers. If you are comfortable being on camera, please join our impressive marketing team. We provide scripts and editing.
  • Graphic Designers: The GWC has our own brand. We embrace creativity of all kinds. Experience in Canva preferred.
  • Journalists: Prose allows us to give context and nuance to complicated subjects. Sometimes that is a far better avenue for information.
  • Project Manager: We like organized people…who doesn’t? We are mounting our final push to the mid-terms with an aggressive Get Out The Vote strategy and messaging that centers women. Familiarity with the project management tool Notion would be great (but is not required)! 
  • Tech expertise: Our global helpdesk needs volunteers to help crack the tech code for a multitude of volunteers around the world. We need women with experience running large Zoom events, Facebook and Instagram Lives, and ease with various platform tools.
  • Event Organizers: One of the best ways to build community and engagement is through thoughtful, well organized events. We have many other ideas on the docket.
  • Newsletter Assistance: Assist with data and image research for the monthly newsletter. Facility with design and graph building would be helpful.
    

We’re excited to present a career-oriented event for young women
growing their careers abroad: HER NEXT

The job market broke the rules. Entry-level roles are going to people with five years of experience. Companies aren't hiring. And if you're a young American woman building a career abroad, you're navigating all of it without the network you'd have back home.

Ten women, ten industries, three sessions. Real talk on salary negotiation, burnout, imposter syndrome, and knowing when to walk away – plus why your vote matters more than you've been told. No panel. No script. Just the conversations you need.

Sunday, October 11 from 6-8pm CET / 12-2pm ET.  RSVP here

We’re writing #PostcardsToCongress!

Handwritten postcards. For Congressional reps. In 90 minutes on Zoom.

Join us August 15 at 4pm CET / 10am ET. We'll make postcards, draft punchy one-liners about ICE, data centers, and the SAVE Act, then sip and send.

Two postcards per topic. Three topics. Your rep will get six pieces of mail they can’t ignore. Bring post cards, markers, stamps, something good to drink, and snacks. The rest is on us. RSVP here.

GWC x Veterans & Military Families (VMF) Caucus: Women's Equality Day Live - Wednesday, August 23 at 7pm CET / 1pm ET

Erasing the Uniform: Women, the Military, and What's at Stake - GWC and the VMF Caucus go live for Women's Equality Day to name what's happened to women in or connected to the military over the last 18 months: the purge of female leadership, healthcare stripped from veterans, and what it means when the country stops holding up its end of the deal. Watch live on Facebook and Instagram.  RSVP here

GWC x Youth Caucus: Facebook Live - Wednesday, August 26 at 7pm CET / 1pm ET

GWC is teaming up with the Democrats Abroad Youth Caucus for a live conversation on gun violence, the economy, climate change, and what's at stake for first-time voters. Join us live on Facebook and Instagram.  RSVP here

Yes. We. Vote. GWC Scavenger Hunts

You know what’s as important as requesting your 2026 ballot? Well, nothing, but you know what’s more fun? Gamifying it. 

Taking inspiration from the Mamdani campaign, the Global Women’s Caucus (GWC) is hosting a unique investigative campaign series across cities where Americans live and work and vote from a distance. YES WE VOTE is a team scavenger hunt that uses the streets, squares, and stories of each city to make the case for why your ballot matters. 

The next scheduled events will be held in London on September 6th and The Hague, NL on September 26th. Join these celebrations of a city’s rich cultural and historical heritages - often tales of fascism or tyranny boldly met with resistance. To qualify, participants only need to have requested their 2026 ballot. If you haven’t yet or don't know how, we will have trained volunteers on hand to help you through it.  RSVP here

GWC Writing Workshop: BECAUSE WORDS MATTER

Last Thursday of each month, 7-8:30pm CET. 

August 27: 7-8:30pm CET / 1-2:30pm ET – For the seasoned writer, the secret writer, the “I’ve-never-written-before” writer—and yes, even the gifted. Writing is freedom. A way to release fear, capture joy, tell truths, share ideas, and connect with others. Words can inspire, heal, challenge, educate, entertain—and sometimes change lives.

Poetry, stories, essays, humor, reflections—bring your voice. This is not about perfection. It’s about expression. In turbulent times, writing matters more than ever.  RSVP here

STIRRING THE POT: The Dissident’s Kitchen

Our global feminist cookbook needs your amazing recipes! 

When U.S. suffragists needed an unexpected weapon in their 72-year fight for the vote, they turned to the cookbook — using recipes to build community, raise funds, and smuggle politics onto the dinner table. That tradition is yours to continue.

We're collecting the recipes you make, bake, shake, mix, or defrost to nourish yourself and the people around you. From the earnest to the tongue-in-cheek, tell us what's on your table and the story behind it. Dishes, drinks, and the meaning they carry are all welcome.

CLICK HERE to submit your recipe(s).

The Reproductive Justice Team is creating a monthly post called The Legislative Corner which gives you monthly updates on legislation affecting our reproductive freedom. Check it out here.

If you are interested in joining our team, please email [email protected]

They have a plan, and it’s written down.

Meanwhile, the Global Women’s Caucus is building something very different: community, resistance, voter outreach, feminist media, and spaces where women can lead loudly, creatively, and unapologetically.

We are creating the kind of movement this moment demands.

But organizing takes resources. Volunteers are free, but phone calls, paid advertising, postcards, printing, comms platforms - all of this adds up.

If you’re able, please help support the work of the GWC with a donation today. The amount doesn’t matter. The intention does.

We are done waiting to be saved.

Roe is as Good as Gone - Kathryn Kolbert and Julie F. Kay, Nov 2021, NYT.  This debate has been raging for decades. We have to look at why we are losing. It’s more than social media and the Supreme Court.

Women are Half the Population: not a special interest group - Alexis Grenell, Dec 2022, The Nation. This is near and dear to our hearts. We have to understand this.

One man’s bold plan to defeat Trumpism—once and for all - Conversation with Ben Wikler, On with Kara Swisher Podcast. Ben was the former chair of the Wisconsin Dems. He has a lot to say about what we should do to gain power and what we do once we get it. You may not agree with everything, but he’s a great messenger.

Masculinism is Uniting the Right - Simon Copland, July 2026, The Conversation. We’ve posted about this phenomenon before. It’s important to understand how they are framing this anti-woman narrative.

The Right of Abortion - Harriet Pilpel, The Atlantic, 1969.  Because we believe it’s important to understand the history of something, and because their tactics rarely change, we’re sharing an original article on the status of the abortion debate in 1969. It’s a very interesting read.

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